The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Erodium×Geranium which is grown as an ornamental plant for use in border, rock garden, container, or as a groundcover for the landscape. Although the cultivar was developed by the inventor by the deliberate hybridization between the two genera Erodium and Geranium as further described herein, the overall appearance of the cultivar is strongly indicative of the genus Erodium. Plants of the genus erodium are commonly known as alpine geraniums or as cranesbill, or storksbill, or heronsbill. The new variety is known botanically as Erodium chamaedryoides×Geranium cinereum var. subcaulescens,, and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘CLARET’.
‘CLARET’ is the product of a formal breeding program established by the inventor in 2000 at the inventor's nursery in Watsonville, Calif. The purpose of the breeding program was to produce a novel and useful color break in erodium. The variety of erodium known as ‘Bishop's Form’ (unpatented) carries attractive pink-red flowers, and the inventor intended to produce a hybrid of ‘Bishop's Form’ whose flowers would be a deeper and more intense red in color.
‘CLARET’ is a seedling selection arising from the inventor's controlled cross-pollination of an unnamed seedling of the dark red flowered Geranium cinereum var. subcaulescens (species, unpatented) as male parent with the pink-red flowered variety Erodium ‘Bishop's Form’ (unpatented) as female parent.
The breeding process which produced ‘CLARET’ proceeded as follows:
First, in 2000 the inventor transferred pollen from the male parent to the female parent. Pollination was successful and a small amount seed was harvested in 2001. The inventor stored the seed for one year, and it was sown in 2002. The inventor observed the resulting seedlings as they flowered during the summer of 2002. Only one of the seedlings was considered distinct. This seedling exhibited the characteristic habit of the female parent and bore deep red flowers of even greater darkness and saturation than the male parent. The inventor isolated this one seedling and allowed it to grow and multiply by natural basal branching. In 2005, at his nursery in Watsonville, Calif., the inventor carried out the first asexual reproduction of the grown-on seedling, by taking softwood cuttings from the spreading crown. The inventor observed the resulting plants and determined that all the plants exhibited the exact characteristics of the original selected seedling. The inventor named the new plant ‘CLARET’ and has determined that ‘CLARET’ is stable, uniform, and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
‘CLARET’ is distinguishable from the female parent by the color of the flower. Whereas the flowers of the female parent are mid-pink in color, the flowers of ‘CLARET’ are deep red in color. The female parent, Erodium ‘Bishop's Form’ is also the closest variety of erodium known to the inventor.
‘CLARET’ is distinguishable from the male parent by habit, flower color, and flower size. Whereas the male parent grows to approximately 20 cm in height and bears dark red flowers whose diameter is approximately 30 mm to 35 mm, plants of ‘CLARET’ grow only to a height of 6 cm to 8 cm, and the flowers of ‘CLARET’ are a deeper saturated red in color and are approximately 22 mm in diameter. In addition, the flowers of ‘CLARET’ exhibit a strongly contrasting white “eye” which is typically absent or very small on flowers of Geranium cinereum var. subcaulescens. 